Water board laments poor rainfall

The Mount Isa Water board says it is concerning how little rain has fallen in the region during the traditional wet season.

Chief executive Greg Stevens says the town's main water source Lake Moondarra is currently at 57 per cent capacity, while Lake Julius is sitting at 88 per cent.

He says while there is plenty of water in both lakes, they are below what they would usually be at this time of year.

"It's concerning in so far as we expect higher levels," he said.

"We still have more than enough storage at Lake Julius to tide us over, so collectively we have a very high volume of water - it will last us more than one year."

He says if Lake Moondarra levels continue to fall, it will begin talks with Mount Isa Mines and the city council about starting to pump from Lake Julius.

"Generally those levels are down around 40 per cent and below when they start considering whether to pump from Julius," he said.

"The main issue there is because it's ... a lot further distance the costs to pump it way back up here are quite higher in terms of pumping costs, so we collectively try to avoid that until we have to."